New 'Aladdin' is all about the spectacle

Molly Glentze, Houston Chronicle

By Molly Glentzer

Published 4:46 pm, Friday, February 21, 2014

Karina Gonzalez and Joseph Walsh are Princess Badr al Budar and Aladdin in Houston Ballet's production of "Aladdin," choreographed by David Bintley. Performances continue through March 2 at Wortham Theater Center.
Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Artists of Houston Ballet manipulate a huge puppet in the dragon dance of "Aladdin," choreographed by David Bintley. Performances continue through March 2 at Wortham Theater Center.
Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Artists of Houston Ballet manipulate a huge puppet in the dragon...

Christopher Gray as the Djinn (Genie) with other artists of Houston Ballet in one of many colorful scenes of "Aladdin," choreographed by David Bintley. Performances continue through March 2 at Wortham Theater Center.
Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Christopher Gray as the Djinn (Genie) with other artists of Houston...

William Newton and artists of Houston Ballet manipulate a huge puppet in the dragon dance of "Aladdin," choreographed by David Bintley. Performances continue through March 2 at Wortham Theater Center.
Photo: Amitava Sarkar

A great comic ballet would have been welcome, especially given the British traditions of Dame Nanette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton on which Bintley was raised. There are glimmers of that spirit in "Aladdin" along with moments of higher camp.

Bintley also stirs in plenty of dancing in a classical style; giving Aladdin and the Djinn, especially, an abundance of go-for-broke bravura material full of space-eating jetés, swift chaînés and fouettés But nuanced it is not. How could it be, given Carl Davis' brash and shallow score, which sounds at times like it wants to be the theme from "Star Wars"? (At one point, I couldn't tell if the Houston Ballet Orchestra was stumbling over some notes in a minor key or if the score was just that oddly written.)

Much of the choreography is inspired by other ballets. The first time we see Princess Badr al-Budur, she's a vision in the sky, like Giselle or the white swan, Odette. A couple resembling the sexy, acrobatic Arabians from "The Nutcracker" appear as Rubies in a string of Act 1 divertissements that also includes a Balanchine-esque Diamond with a corps, a coy Sapphire with a smaller retinue, a trio of Emeralds, three couples who are Onyx and Pearls, and two couples who are Gold and Silver.

But Sue Blane's awkwardly bouncing tutus for this scene look better suited to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," for which she is famous.

Adding to the mash-up, Bintley has imagined Aladdin and his mother as Chinese immigrants in an Arabic land that, given the angled arm movements of the corps, also feels like ancient Egypt. It looks like someone is pressing the fast-forward button when the Djinn's entourage, stunningly attired in blue and gold, race through the ballet's most intriguing corps work.

It's a simple story, really: The rakish boy is lured to a gem-filled cave by an evil wizard, but he's too smart to give up the lamp he's been sent to retrieve. After rubbing the lamp, he's saved by a blue-skinned genie who also gives him the riches he needs to please the father of the princess he loves.

Of course, the evil wizard wants the girl, too, kidnapping her and the lamp with its genie, who briefly turns into a bad guy. Until, of course, Aladdin comes to save them ... and they're soon flying home on a magic carpet.

All along the way, Dick Bird's sets dazzle, so eye-popping the word lavish can't do them justice. Most spectacular is the cave with stairs resembling a woolly mammoth's skeleton.

Lighting designer Mark Jonathan works serious magic with the cave's stalactites and stalagmites, which glow in colors that change with each "jewel" variation; a ravishing bathhouse dome full of small, circular skylights; and a palace courtyard whose sunset-drenched arches are backed by an evening sky.

In the special-effects department, the blue-skinned Djinn hovers intriguingly, first appearing in bursts of fire and smoke. Puppet birds fly high across the sky. One of the best effects is the simplest, relying on human artistry that instantly made me smile: In the lion dance of Act 2, Rhodes Elliott and Oliver Halkowich brought big personality to the ballet's most amazing costume.

I'd had enough by the time Aladdin and Princess B were lifted into the air on their magic carpet, a device that jerked awkwardly but will likely be smoother with more practice.

The ballet could have ended nicely there. Instead came a big finale, with encore appearances that looked like a curtain call, and one more bit of spectacle: a glimmering golden dragon operated by a line of shirtless men.